


Finals forms, and growing up

by thegoddessinzerogravity



Category: Gravity Falls, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: I love GF and i love HDM and there is only one other crossover fic, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-05-29 00:57:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6352519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoddessinzerogravity/pseuds/thegoddessinzerogravity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper can't wait to settle.<br/>Mabel never wants to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> His Dark Materials is one of my favorite series ever, and I just finished rewatching Gravity Falls, and I absolutely needed a daemon AU for the show.
> 
> just for reference, Dipper (eventually) has a barn owl, Mabel (eventually) settles as a domestic ferret, Wendy has a crow, Soos a Newfoundland dog, Stan a bobcat, and Ford a giant Schnauzer.
> 
> Feedback is appreciated!

Blue was fascinated with Wendy’s daemon the moment they were introduced. The large black bird held just as much, if not more, of an aura of cool and chill as Wendy did, perched casually on her shoulders as she “worked” at the Mystery Shack.

In the time before she settled, Dipper and Blue spent a good amount of time with Wendy and Blue would often mimic the crow form in her arms, just to try it out. It was one slow, hot afternoon, when Mabel and Tix were off with Candy and Grenda, when Wendy commented on this. 

“You know, Dipper, you don’t need to push Blue to settle before it’s time.” He reddened slightly with embarrassment at the comment, and Blue shifted back into her favorite firefly form and nestled on his shoulder. “I’m not trying to push her, it’s just . . .” he paused, not exactly knowing how to articulate it. “How did you know, when Gail had really settled?” 

Wendy leaned back in her chair, a thoughtful expression on her face, and Gail fluttered down to the edge of the counter. “It’s hard to explain, I guess. I just sort of knew.”

Dipper could feel the disappointment at the vague answer overcoming him when Gail suddenly spoke up. “Before I settled, I was changing constantly, always trying to find the best, the one most suited to us. I was never sure while I was changing, but one day I found this form, and,” he flapped his large black wings for emphasis, “I knew it was perfect. I couldn’t imagine myself as anything else, really.” 

“There you go” finished Wendy. “You’ll know when the time comes, dude. Just let it happen.”

Blue considered this, and then changed into a long, skinny cat (Siamese, whispered a small part of Dipper’s mind) and affectionately flicked her tail against Gail’s side. The crow fluttered a wing in response, and Dipper gave her a smile. “Thanks, Wendy.”

The older girl abruptly leaned forward in her chair again, and grinned. "Hey, I think your sister's back."

As she said that, Mabel and Tix excitedly burst in, Tix golden retriever-shaped. "You'll never guess what me and Candy and Grenda found in the woods," she breathlessly began, already throwing her arms on the counter and boosting herself up. "There were a bunch of these fairy-things, right? And they said that if me and Candy and Grenda helped them build a new castle for themselves, they would 'bless us forever' and then I asked if they had any arts and crafts supplies that were magic, and-"

"Wait," interrupted Dipper. "You found a colony of magical fairies and you asked them if they had magical arts and crafts?" 

"Well, obviously." she tossed her head and gave a huge grin. "They're magic! They must have tons of good stuff." Dipper just rolled his eyes while Blue playfully pounced on Tix's head, and Wendy and Gail snickered at Mabel's story.

********************

As children in New Jersey, Dina preferred large, intimidating forms, whereas Tella went for smaller, more refined animals. Neither of the Stan’s thought much of this. It matched their personalities, after all, and it was always handy to have Dina ready and willing to change into a bull and charge after the bullies at the beach. 

When they both finally settled, Stan was startled. Dina, after all that childhood romping as boars or lions, was a small, almost graceful feline, and Tella as an large, imposing black dog. “She’s a giant Schnauzer,” Ford explained excitedly, kneeling over his copy of Daemon Analysis. “And I think Dina’s a bobcat.” Dina briefly shared a glance at Stan, and then leapt to perch on his shoulders.

She peered down at her twin daemon, who was laying peacefully with her head on Ford's lap as he perused the book. After a second, Stan realized that his brother was staring at him, waiting for a reaction. He cleared his throat and grumbled "Well, it's not what I expected," (Dina lightly smacked him with a paw for that), "But she's pretty." 

Later that night, when Ford and Tella were asleep, Stan was running his fingers through Dina's brown and gray fur again. She wasn't much bigger than a domestic cat, and not nearly as intimidating as Tella. "I don't care that you didn't settle as a bear, or a boar, or anything like that." Stan whispered to her in the dark. "I think this is perfect." 

Bobcats are designed for survival, and Stan realized the full extent of this when living on the streets, trying to make it as a salesman, a conman, anything just to survive, and he always has Dina's furry form pressed into his side, ready to lash out with teeth and claws when operations when sour. 

Even later, Dina gained a ferocious protectiveness over Tix and Blue, even before Stan will reluctantly admit how much those kids mean to him. She hissed in annoyance when Tix boldly ventured too close, and batted at Blue with her claws when she got on her nerves, but during the evenings, she would affectionately groom both of them, and would willingly submit to Tix's slightly aggressive playfighting.

Dina protected Tix and Blue, Stan protected Dipper and Mabel. That was how their little family worked. 

*********************

"With all Three Journals, I'll rule Gravity Falls! With you as my queen!"

Dipper's mind was a blank slate of terror. Gideon had snatched Mabel in his bot, forcing Tix to change into a bird and fly alongside her, and crashed away through the trees, with the journal. Blue leaned back on her haunches and changed into a wolf, howling at the sky with anger. 

What he had to do next was going to be difficult, hard to achieve, and probably painful. But he looked at Blue, who howled again at Tix being taken from her, and knew wha had to be done. As he ran, and leapt off the cliffside with all his might, Blue slowly and gracefully changed into a large bird (whose species he didn't have the time to identify) and let out a surprisingly harsh cry for such a delicate looking bird. 

He crashed straight into the cockpit of the robot, making Gideon with Dolly curled around his arm whirl around in surprise. Blue lunged at the tiny dog, her huge wingspan carrying her across half the room in seconds, and Dipper jumped straight at Gideon. 

"Let! My! Sister! Go!" Dipper surprised even himself with the ferocity of his anger as he and Gideon wrestled around the bot. Blue seemed to be winning the fight against Dolly, using her beak and claws to her full advantage. With a sudden shock, Dipper realized the entire bot was going down around them, and Blue barely had time to squawk in surprise before the entire structure fell down into the ravine.

The next few seconds were a blur of sounds and heat, and Mabel's arm wrapped tightly around his waist. Blue and Tix were both floating above them, in the shape of barn owls (that's what she had been during the bot fight, he suddenly realized) and then it was clear, and all four of them were slowly sinking to the ground. The second they landed, Mabel threw both arms around him and squealed for joy, and Tix flipped into a monkey and squeezed Blue in a similar hug. 

After everything, when Gideon had been arrested and the twins reunited with Stan and Soos, they finally caught a moment of peace in their bedroom. "Dipper," Blue whispered, hopping into his lap. "Dipper, I think I'm going to stay like this. Forever." 

She was still a barn owl. Massive wings, and a cream-and-brown face, and all he could think about is how beautiful she is. "Wendy was right," she went on. "I can't imagine myself as anything else."

Dipper smiled, and bumped his forehead against her. They spent a second like that, and then Dipper called his sister over. "Mabel, look, Blue settled-" Mabel gasped, and Tix immediately changed into a barn owl to match. "Saving me and exposing Gideon was enough of a, um, what do the teachers call it-" 

"Emotional surge."

"Emotional surge to settle! You did it! She's aaaaamazing! We have to show Stan!"

Mabel giggled and bounced her way down the stairs, and Dipper gently ran his fingers through the feathers on her wings. Blue pressed against him, and in that moment, he realized he was completely happy.


	2. Mabel and Tix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tix changed fast as lightning, whip fast, and never wanted to stop.

Even when Mabel was a toddler, Tix had changed forms fast as lighting. This had aided their trouble-making schemes as children, usually dragging a reluctant Dipper and Blue along with them. Tix also tended to go for 'cuter' forms. Cats, dogs, pandas, mice, tiny birds, he rarely went for insects, or lizards. Changing from a delicate kitten to a blue jay to golden retriever, Tix never stayed still for long.

So Mabel knew that something was seriously wrong whenever Tix was completely, absolutely still.

The first time it happened in Gravity Falls was during the convenience store, when the ghosts of Ma and Pa possessed her body. The part of her mind that was dimly aware during the whole process could sense Tix curled on the ground beneath her floating body, rabbit-shaped. He was alive, but seemed to be in shock, not moving, their connection flickering along her consciousness. The feeling is disorientating, to say the least. To say the most, she would have screamed with shock and the sheer _alienness_ of it, the sensation of another consciousness besides Tix occupying her mind.

In the van on the way back, Tix is shivering in her lap, still rabbit-shaped. Her fingers were shaking slightly from the shock, and hurriedly so Dipper wouldn't notice, scooped up Tix and buried his face in his fur. She wanted to cry, but didn't, just clutched her daemon to her chest and tried to reduce the ache of stress and sleep deprivation deep in her chest.

\-------------------------------------------------------

The second time it happened was fighting with Bipper at her sock puppet show. Tix had changed into a timber wolf (she blinked in surprise at that, he was so rarely anything so large and predatory) and was firmly holding down Blue in his mouth, not willing to allow to the owl to join the fight. She'd been _winning_ , getting ahead of Bill when the demon possessing her brother reached out and snatched Tix by the collar.

If he incident in the convenience store had been disorienting, this was so much worse. All the breath heaved out of her lungs like she'd been punched in the chest, and Tix jerked with shock and tried to twist around to bite his head.

_"SEE, SHOOTING STAR? THIS IS WHY HUMANS ARE SO EASY TO TAKE CONTROL OF"_ Bipper shouted at her, still pinning her the stage floor with his knees. _"YOU IDIOTS KEEP YOUR SOULS OUTSIDE YOUR BODY, AND,"_ He didn't get a chance to finish. Even though her head was spinning with shock and pain, Mabel lunged up and started to tickle him. Bipper spluttered with shock, and released the Journal, and Tix. Mabel knew that she'd won. Her brother may have been possessed by a demonic entity older than time itself, but he was still ticklish.

Her play was a wreck, her brother was hurt and felt awful, and she was still slightly weak at the knees from shock. Tix scuttled up her arm, ermine-shaped, curled safely around her neck, and didn't move. On the drive back home, Dipper poked her in the side, and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I told you, bro-bro, I didn't get beat up in the fight."

"No, I mean . . . Bill grabbed Tix. I saw it."

"Oh. I'm alright, dipdop, don't worry."

The fight, the long day, the shock, and the worry over he brother all hit her at the same time, and she slumped against Dipper's side. He awkwardly extracted his slightly bruised up arm and laid it around her shoulders. Tix skittered down her arm and joined Blue on the floor, who mimicked her human and laid a wing around him.

\------------------------------------------------------

The third time it happened is during Weirdmaggeon, when Bill had both of them clutched tightly in his fists. Blue was flapping around and squawking, but Tix was uncharacteristically silent. Between her sheer panic occupying her brain, she wondered why, this wasn't like the others time. Bill wasn't technically a _person_ , so him touching Blue and Tix shouldn't have been so disturbing. And her panic was powerful enough to usually make Tix as hyper and wild as she felt, but he was almost completely limp in Bill's other fist. Then her stomach dropped out underneath her, because she could actually _feel_ her connection with Tix shivering and flickering, almost fading out before surging back. 

Blue was thrashing around. Tix was completely still with shock. Blue was settled, Tix wasn't.

She was no expert on Dust. But she at least knew that unsettled daemons attracted _lots_ of it. And she knew that any force powerful enough, with enough sheer force behind it, could cut a child's connection with their unsettled daemon-

And Bill released all four of them, and Mabel hit the ground like sack of potatoes. Tix shook himself out of his daze and darted over to her, changing into a giant golden-brown dog and protectively standing over her. Her left arm had a steady, tight line of pain slowly traveling from her wrist to shoulder, but she lifted her uninjured arm and stroked his ears.

Still there. They weren't separated, her soul, the essential part of her, was still connected to him. He licked her face, and she twisted around to look at Dipper and Blue. Her brother didn't seem to have been hurt in the fall, and Blue was dizzily fluttering around his head. _They're okay. We're okay._

\----------------------------------------------------

The last time it happens, it's their 13th birthday. The party was over, Dipper was downstairs talking to Wendy about something, and it was just Mabel and Tix, curled up in her bed. He was coiled around her wrist, a ferret, and she was gently stroking his fur.

"I don't think I'm afraid to settle anymore" he said quietly. "Me neither" she replied, closing her eyes.

There was another peaceful moment, then Tix whispered "I think I'm going to stay like this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be continuing this little series, each chapter focusing on an individual character's relationship with their daemon.  
> Also, fun fact, ferrets are pretty much just very friendly, very energetic snake-cats.  
> (Dipper and Blue are up next.)
> 
> Let me know what you thought!


	3. Dipper and Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He hadn't expected her settle the way she had- at all. Surely his soul couldn't be something so huge, and magnificent.

Ever since they were little kids, Blue had done her best to pull him out of his shell. It had never worked very well, with her being almost as shy as he was. And besides, Mabel and Tix had handled that part just fine.

She preferred small, inconspicuous forms. Mice, birds, rabbits, snakes, able to safely perch on his shoulder or head and watch the world go by around them. Perhaps it was some kind of cosmic parallel that she'd settled the way she had, all talons and beak and massive wings. But then again, it didn't really matter how she looked. She would still shyly grip his shoulder when meeting new people and their daemons, and rarely used her razor-sharp screech.

Before she settled, at Gravity Falls, Blue had been intensely suspicious of Stan's daemon. Everyone knew that wildcat forms were no good, even if Tix and Mabel were delighted with them and liked taking feline forms and playing with her. Dina snapped and batted at him when he darted too close, which never deterred them from constant attempts to play.

But then he made a horrible mistake. Zombies were crawling everywhere. Blue was squawking and frantically flapping above his head while he frantically flipped through the journal for help. Mabel panicking behind him didn't do much for calm, and Tix was bat-shaped, frantically zipping around the walls. The night and the undead cast horrific blue and black shadows on the wall, and the nausea swimming in his stomach only added to the danger.

He felt a cold, rotten hand clamp around his wrist and yank him into the air, and he knew it was over. Blue shrieked at the top of her lungs and dove straight for the zombie's head, but the creature wasn't deterred even as her talons sank into what was left of it's skull. He braced himself and just hoped that Mabel could somehow find a way out-

A loud, distinctly feline, screech. The zombie abruptly dropped him, and he had barely enough time to roll around and gather Blue to his chest before Stan, because of course it was Stan who saved them, with Dina in front of him snarling and hackles raised, shouted at them to go. Dina lunged forward and batted at Tix for extra encouragement.

His great-uncle was panting with exertion, but looked furious and Dipper instantly knew that he wouldn't allow the zombies to harm any of them. Dina hissed again and puffed up all her fur so that she looked twice as big. After stumbling into the attic, the rest of the night passed in a blur, and when it was over, he couldn't remember being more exhausted in his entire life. But before he let himself sleep, Blue fluttered over to where Dina was curled around Stan's ankles grooming the dirt and zombie-residue off her fur.

The younger daemon hesitantly approached, and then bent her head and bumped against Dina. It was a mixture of gratitude, affection, and apology, and Stan glanced up to meet Dipper's eyes.

"Go to bed, kid. Been a long day for everyone." Blue returned to his arms, and he darted back to his room with Mabel feeling surprisingly content.

\--------------------------------------

When Bill possessed him, Blue wasn't there.

Not to say they'd been Separated, with a capital 'S'. He could feel his connection to her when he was violently ejected out of his own body, but Blue, the actual presence and spirit of his daemon were nowhere to be found. Her body sat on the attic floor next to his body like a stuffed toy, not moving. He didn't know where she went and if she would ever come back, and was too busy panicking to properly think about it.

He was forced to helplessly float behind Bill as he paraded around with Blue ( _Blue's body, not actually her_ ) vaguely stumbling behind him. When Tix eagerly bumped his nose against her beak and didn't get his usual playful response, he merely swished his tail in disappointment and hopped back to Mabel's shoulder. 

No way to signal to Mabel, no way he to find Blue, Bill could easily snatch the Journal at any moment, and seemingly no way back into his body. Dipper tried to control his panic. There had to be a way out of this. 

He helplessly repeated the mantra the whole way there, desperately hoping that Mabel would be able to defeat Bill, and feeling his hopes sinking lower the whole car ride. _Enough. Panic isn't helping._

He closed his eyes and focused on his bond with Blue instead, gently pushing at their connection. She was still there. Just not here. The only experience he could compare it to was when one time as a much younger child, he'd woken up before she had. He'd lain awake in bed, gently probing at their bond, in awe that they were clearly still connected, but not responding.

Eventually, she'd woken up and half-heartedly swiped at him for being annoying. Maybe if he pushed hard enough now, she would come back into her body and tell Tix and Mabel what had happened. The idea had barely shot into his head when the car stopped, and the play started rolling into action. 

Total chaos ensued. Mabel, naturally, defeated an all-powerful time demon by tickling him, and as soon as Dipper popped back into his body with relief, Blue's presence instantly reawakened and she fluttered her wings and let out a faint croak. Not really caring that it was in front of everyone, including Wendy, he pressed his face into her feathers and felt tears prick his eyes with relief. 

"Let's never do that again." 

\----------------------------------

Maybe it was a foil to their personalities. Blue settled in an explosion of fire and metal and passion, loud and unmistakable. Tix settled quietly and alone with Mabel, gently curled around her wrist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to upload! Junior year is kicking my ass.  
> I hope you all liked it! I had a lot of fun thinking about how possession would affect the connection with one's daemon, and brainstorming more headcanons for this AU.  
> As always, feedback is appreciated!
> 
> (come talk to me on tumblr @ floralgemini.tumblr.com)


	4. Pacifica and Korick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Northwests had always settled as cats, always always always, but at night, Pacifica runs her fingers over Korick and feels wings.

Most people assumed Pacifica was already settled. She couldn't exactly blame them. 

She was always with her parents, and her parents insisted that Korick stay as a small black cat at all times, until she settled. At one point, during a fancy dinner party, Korick had asked N'amir why she always had to stay like that. The party had been long and boring, and human and daemon alike had wanted nothing more than to change into her favorite duck form and curl up to sleep. 

Her mother's daemon had given Korick a cold glare, replied "Bad enough that you had to go and be female, let alone that you haven't settled yet. Northwests have always been cats, ever since the beginning of the family. You're to stay like that, until you decide to settle like that, or find a suitable feline form." Pacifica had wanted to argue back, to protest that she _hated_ feline forms, that Korick and her alike felt like they were suffocating in those small, delicate cat forms.

Before she'd been able to, N'amir had sprang off her mother's lap and seized Korick's scruff in his teeth. Pacifca froze, feeling tiny dots of pain from his teeth rising along her daemon's neck. Korick twisted as best she was able in the larger cat's grip, but couldn't shake him. The pain along her neck increased, and Pacifica cried out "Stop! Stop! I'm sorry, we'll stay a cat forever and ever just let GO-"

N'amir released Korick and hopped back into her mother's lap, suddenly a docile and sweet-faced cat again. Korick fled into Pacifica's arms, and she spent the next few seconds nuzzling her and holding her close against her chest until she heard her mother say sharply, "You're not a child, Pacifica. No need to act so foolish with your daemon in public."

N'amir's glowing green eyes vigilantly watched them for the rest of the night, and Korick miserably hunched over on Pacifica's legs and waited until they could go home.

That night in bed, under the blankets, Korick changed into more and more ridiculous animals, trying to make her laugh, until she became a hideous gargoyle with a lions mane and Pacifica had to shove a fist in her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

Korick had happily changed into a duck and snuggled against her head, and Pacifica curled her head against her stocky, feathery form, and felt the ache in her chest relent, ever so slightly. 

\------------------------------------------

A sting of envy shot through Pacifica when she first met Mabel Pines. The other girl's daemon was obviously as free to change shapes as often as he liked, and practically seemed to be showing off this privilege. He wildly shot through the air, changing from a parrot to a robin to a duck in the seconds in took him to fly from Mabel's shoulder to Korick, and happily fluttered his wings against her in a clumsy and affectionate greeting.

Pacifica scowled at him, and Korick hissed, making all the fur along her back stand up. Tix stumbled backwards, and Mabel met Pacifica's eyes, surprise and hurt evident in them. A brief flicker of regret passed through her _"I think they were only trying to be friendly" Korick whispers_ , but she shoved the flicker down, hard. 

She didn't have time for some girl with long brown hair and a big smile with a daemon who changed shapes faster than thinking. Her brother awkwardly stood watching this exchange, the mongoose at his feet changing into a duck to match his sisters.

Great. An entire family full of kids who could change as often as they liked, without threats or glares or a nasty sinking feeling when they did. She snatched Korick up in her arms and blew past both of them, determined to not let either of those Pines kids show her up, in any way. 

A few weeks later, and of course it's _mini golfing_ , of all things, where the twins find out that Korick isn't settled. 

The night had seemed easy, fun even. Prove that she was better than Mabel Pines at mini golfing, go home. Simple.

An hour in, and she was tied down by tiny golfball munchkin people while Korick screeched and frantically changed from her cat form to a crane, not caring if the Pines twins or their handyman or even her parents were watching, fluttering above her and yanking at the ropes with her beak and talons, desperately trying to free her before it was too late-

Tix and Mabel swooped to their rescue, Tix a large, unidentifiable cat with his claws out, tearing at the ropes alongside Korick, and in an awkward, clumsy mess of being extremely careful to not accidentally touch the other girl's dae, Pacifica and Mabel tumbled to the floor of the mini-golf course, safe and sound. Relatively. 

Mabel tugged Tix to her chest, and cast Pacifica a look. "Um . . . I didn't know Korick was unsettled."

"Neither do a lot of people," she snapped back, heart still pounding from the near death experience. "We don't change much."

Mabel's eyes fell downward, and again Pacifica felt that small flicker of regret for snapping. "My parents like her to be a cat. Pretty much all the time."

"Really? Like they make you? Wow, Stan would never make us do something like that-"

"Lucky you." Mabel went quiet again, and Tix hesitantly hopped off her lap and padded close to Korick. Pacifica was tempted to pull her away, but waited as Tix gently bumped his head under her beak and purred, loudly. Korick awkwardly, cautiously, extended one large white wing to cover Tix's body.

\---------------------------------------

She was incredibly nervous about asking Dipper for help. Korick wasn't helping with her anxiety. She had been tugging at her feet all morning, snapping at her ankles and whispering not to do it, _"those Pines kids only lead to trouble,and what if he finds out that I'm not settled? Bad enough that Mabel knows but we don't need him knowing too-"_

She nudged her away with her foot and started wrapping a scarf around her hair. "We've got no other choice. Mom and Dad said to get rid of the ghost, and this is the best way possible." It was one of those rare occasions where her parents weren't around, and Korick flapped her heron wings in frustration, and clambered up Pacifica's desk to meet her eyes.

"Are you even going to tell him that it's technically our fau-" 

Pacifica swung around, and smacked Korick with her purse, hard. "I don't know what you're talking about! We need his help to get rid of the ghost before the party. Nothing else is involved here. Now come on, we're leaving."

Korick tumbled off the desk with a squawk of surprise, falling all the way to the ground before righting herself and resentfully glaring at Pacifica. She whirled around and started to stalk out the door, waiting to hear the now-familiar sound of Korick changing into a cat and following her. She didn't hear anything. Pacifica turned around and stared at her daemon, who was still on the floor, still a crane, and not moving. 

"Korick." No reaction. "Korick!" Her daemon simply glared at her, and didn't budge. "What do you think this will _do_? I'm still going."

She took another step towards the door, and felt a tug on her heart. She narrowed her eyes at Korick. "Korick. Come. On!"

Another step, and the pain in her chest increased. Pacifica felt a sob rising in her chest, and it came out as a plead this time. "Korick . . ." 

She abruptly sat down and buried her face in her hands. "I'm sorry. I don't have to go. I just don't know what else to do." A few seconds passed, and she felt a soft brush of feathers along her wrist. She opened her eyes, and saw Korick pressing against her arms.

"I'm sorry too. I don't know why I did that! I just . . . I don't know." She opened her arms and pulled her daemon tightly against her chest, feeling the awful ache of being apart from her fade with the contact. Korick rested her long neck around Pacifica's head, and said "I think we should go see Dipper now." She lifted her head, and ran her nails along Korick's feathered, muscled neck. "I wish you could be whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted." "I do too." 

\--------------------------------------

A snow goose. She knew that with some people, they weren't immediately sure what shape their daemon had settled as.

But Pacifica could tell immediately. Huge, pearly white wings, tipped with gray softening into black, sharp orange and red beak, powerful webbed feet-

Not a cat. About as far from a traditional Northwest feline form as it was possible to be, and suddenly, she didn't care that she'd ruined the tradition, that she'd been ruining the tradition ever since her daemon had had the audacity to be female along with her human. Korick flapped her massive wings, everyone in the ballroom suddenly turning to look at her. A murderous ghost had been stopped, and a decades old curse lifted, but everyone's attention was on the little rule-breaking girl and her daemon in the center. 

Korick hesitantly stepped back, taking shelter in the relative safety behind her legs.

"PACIFICA!" She turned just in time to see Mabel charging towards her, and barely had time to brace herself before she was engulfed in a backbreaking hug.

"Korick settled, didn't she? Oh my gosh, she's so pretty, she's so _big_ , and she's a bird just like Blue-" Still clinging to her neck, Mabel whirled around, dragging Pacifica with her. 

Korick almost lazily stretched out her wings, and Pacifica felt a suddenly rise of emotion in her chest, and she seized Mabel's wrists and peeled her off her neck. "Yeah, she did. No need to act like such a dope about it." Unfazed, Mabel just spun away, pausing long enough for Tix to shift into a small, unidentifiable dog and lick Korick's cheek. 

She squawked in surprise, and Pacifica bent down and scooped her into her arms. Pressing her face into her wings, she whispered, "You're beautiful. Thank you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating in so long! I've had an unreasonably busy summer.  
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Which, fun fact, the idea for came to me as I was playing Pokemon GO. It was my favorite to write so far.


End file.
